Session 22

In today’s episode, I talk with Allison Greco, creator of the now-closed blog at MD2B. Allison is graduating from Jefferson Medical College (now renamed Sidney Kimmel Medical College). She will start her internal medicine residency at Jefferson in July.

Today, Allison talks about her path to becoming a medical student blogger, how she chose her undergraduate school, and how she built relationships in undergrad that lead her to Jefferson. We also cover the residency match experience and share some good pieces of advice for premed students.

Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.

Considerations for choosing her undergrad school:

• Location
• Great premed program
• Getting a scholarship

[Related episode: Picking a Premed Undergraduate College and a Premed Major.]

What makes a great premed college experience:

• Building great relationships with premed advisors and professors
• Small class size

Choosing which medical school to go to:

• Small school vs. Jefferson
• Jefferson offering a greater diversity of patients and a great learning environment

Allison’s life in medical school:

• Initially wanting to do primary care and having a changed perspective
• The importance of keeping an open mind as far as medical specialty
• Her “aha! moment” during her rural family medicine rotation
• Realizing she wanted to work in a hospital setting
• Needing an inpatient and outpatient sub-internship
• Sub-internship serving as your job interview for residency programs
• Applying for internal medicine in the residency match process

Going through the dreaded residency MATCH process:

• Location as a major consideration for her
• Getting help from her sub-specialty advisor
• Applying to 18 programs and ending up with 9 interviews

[Related episode: The High-Stress World of the Residency Match.]

How residency interviews are different from the med school interview:

• A first come, first serve process
• More laidback
• They want you as much as you want them
• Fun experience (going out to dinners)

Considerations for ranking her residency programs:

• Reputable program that allows her to do a fellowship
• Opportunities to rotate in different sub-specialties
• Diversity of patient population
• Urban setting with exposure to tertiary care
• Opportunities for writing and blogging

The actual match day experience:

• Advisors distributing the letter
• Letting you read it however you want

Allison’s journey as a medical student blogger:

• Starting her blog out of her frustration with all the push-back she saw on Twitter against medical students blogging
• Talking about her medical school experiences to help other people going through the same things

Links and Other Resources

• Connect with Allison Greco on Twitter: @grecoa3.
• Related episode: Dr. Pho of KevinMD Talks About His Path and Medicine Today.
• Related episode: The Intersection of Medicine, Social Media and Technology.
• Need MCAT Prep? Save on tutoring, classes, and full-length practice tests by using promo code “MSHQ” at Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep)!